


Romance of Poker, The

by LizaCameron



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Comedy, Episode: s04e20 Evidence of Things Not Seen, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-21
Updated: 2010-03-21
Packaged: 2019-05-30 13:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15097925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizaCameron/pseuds/LizaCameron
Summary: AfterEvidence of Things Not Seen, the gang attends a poker party at CJ's. J/D.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**~Prologue~**

Josh didn't realize he had a problem. A serious life-altering problem. But he did. 

He'd suffered this particular problem for a very long time, but now, recently, he was beginning to show symptoms. While he was not fully conscious of the problem, or how his symptoms were connected to the problem, he did know things weren't entirely right. He knew that he was experiencing and feeling things that were new to his conscious mind and not altogether appropriate, but he didn't search too hard for a reason why. The truth was that Josh was scared of the potential answer.

From Josh's perspective, he could trace the change back to Thanksgiving. That is, if he hadn't been frightened of thinking about it too seriously. If he had, he'd have come to the conclusion that several things had happened around Thanksgiving which could have wrought change. For instance, the change could have had something to do with the end of the post-election honeymoon period. The moment when it was time to stop celebrating the victory, and the reality of a hostile House and Senate sends everyone crashing back to reality. Or perhaps the change had something to do with the fact that Josh didn't have that many honest-to-goodness friends, people he actually liked and trusted implicitly, and Thanksgiving was around the time that it hit Josh that Sam was really gone and might not be coming back. Or maybe things changed because Donna started dating seriously around Thanksgiving.

The last one had a lot of merit, because the start of the outward manifestation of the problem coincided with the act of helping her secure a date with Navy Commander Jack Reese. Navy Commander Jack "The Coward" Reese. Josh realized that it was political suicide to call any member of the military a coward, but a man who let his girlfriend fall on the sword for him was, in his mind, the definition of the word. 

The symptoms of the problem presented themselves in many ways. One was a propensity to stare at, dream of and think about-- even more than usual-- his assistant. Of course Josh had always done these things, but lately it really was worse. Or better, depending on how you looked at it. Because Josh really did enjoy doing all of those things… as much as possible… whenever possible. What he did not enjoy was watching her with other men. Of course that was something he'd never enjoyed, but now it, too, felt worse. And lately, he was doing things and saying things that might lead someone to believe that his feelings for her were more than what a boss feels for an assistant. Or even what a friend feels for a friend. Do most bosses (or friends) get terribly jealous of their assistant's (or friend's) boyfriends?

In Josh's treatment of and reaction towards the men Donna dated, and the Commander in particular, there were several factors that served as giant, blinking neon arrows pointing directly to the problem. For instance, Josh's need to compete with the Commander was a sign, as was his need to make sure the Commander understood that Josh already knew more about Donna than the Commander would ever be able to learn. And the biggest sign—pointing to Josh's problem in blinding, electric yellow-- might have been his elation when the aforementioned Commander was out of Donna's life. When Jack Reese was exposed as a coward and Donna was once again berating herself for her inability to sustain a relationship, Josh rejoiced. At least they were in formal wear on an evening of celebration, so he had ample cover for the rejoicing. It goes without saying that he didn't celebrate because she'd been made unhappy or because she'd been hurt, but he was overjoyed that she was no longer with Jack Reese. 

During this time, sometimes, just looking at Donna, Josh would experience tumbling stomach and chest tightening. Like everything else, he didn't examine too closely what that meant. For instance, these physical manifestations of his problem he might dismiss as being caused by bad mayo in the chicken salad from the mess. There'd been a lot of bad mayo in the mess lately.

Two months went by, but even though the boyfriend was gone, the symptoms of the problem continued to appear. Even the horrendous installation of his ex in the East Wing didn't distract him, and the symptoms persisted.

A rundown of these symptoms easily ruled out the post-election honeymoon theory and Sam's absence as reasons that Josh's problem was currently bubbling right under the surface. As it turns out, with a little examination, Josh was not all that hard to diagnose. 

Josh was in love with his assistant. 

So it was quite surprising when Josh did for a second time the thing that had caused this problem, to… well… become a problem. Because even if Josh didn't know what his problem was exactly, he did know he didn't like Donna dating other men. But set her up with another man is exactly what he did, or what he tried to do, one night in March. Although this time it was not at her behest, but it was with a Republican. 

The reason why he did such an ill-advised thing: a troubled guy fired a couple of shots at the White House…

**~The Story~**

Donna tried hard to keep her breathing steady as she dialed the number. How odd that she'd removed it from auto-dial only recently. But she hadn't needed to call the number since she'd set up a clandestine appointment for the President, pretending it was for Josh. That had been over a year earlier, and she wasn't one to let unused numbers sit on her speed dial. Not with the volume of calls she had to make daily.

The moment she'd heard what had happened, panic gripped her. Her immediate thought was of Josh. Was he okay? Was he scared? Was he having flashbacks? She didn't even know if he was anywhere near where the shots had been fired. She needed to get to him, but they wouldn't let her go. Her abject helplessness made her want to jump clean out of her skin. Or take down the agent who was holding her in the mess. Reason hadn't worked, pleading hadn't worked, and she was pretty sure she couldn’t overpower him. She was about to try crying, and the tears wouldn't have been of the crocodile variety, when they finally cleared her to go. Needless to say she'd sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

One might think it odd that Donna was in a building with the President of the United States, a great man who had also been shot once, and who also was probably the intended target of any attack on the premises—but he was not her immediate concern. Not that she didn't care deeply for the President, she did. But the last time shots were fired her concern was for the President, and she'd been blindsided when she realized it belonged some where else. Last time Josh had needed her and she hadn't even known it; that was never, ever going to happen again.

When Donna's call was finally answered, she quickly explained what had happened. The doctor was kind and accommodating. He told Donna that he would keep his cell phone on and that Josh was free to call him anytime. 

With a small sigh of relief, Donna thanked him, but voiced her concern that, true to his stubborn nature, Josh wouldn't call. Stanley had no problem believing that, but told her that Josh would most likely be just fine. Through his therapy, he'd been given the tools to deal with this kind of situation. Especially since, as Donna had recounted, Josh had been nowhere near the actual event. He also reminded her that she knew the signs and to keep an eye on him. If anything was wrong, it wouldn’t be hard for her to spot.

Donna persisted, asking if there was anything she could do, anything besides watch for signs. She was desperate to take away any pain Josh might be experiencing, any pain he might not be telling her about. Stanley was silent for a moment before he gave a simple prescription. Take his mind off of it. Distraction wasn't always a bad thing, he explained, do something fun. When Donna asked for clarification, Stanley laughed. If she needed a description of fun, then she needed it as badly as Josh did. Go to dinner, see a movie, bowling, take in a game, just get out of the White House and relax.

When Donna hung up the phone she felt better. She wished Josh would call him, but if he wouldn’t, she was bolstered by the thought that there was something she could do. 

Her first stop was CJ's office.

When Donna knocked on the half-open door, the other woman's head popped up with a start. 

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you," Donna apologized.

"No." CJ's voice was hoarse, she held out her left hand as if waving off the notion as she took a swig from her bottled water. "No, you didn't. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I heard you were in the press room and-"

Again CJ waved her off. "I'm glad to know tales of my cat-like reflexes have already spread far and wide."

"But you're okay."

"Yes." She nodded her head reassuringly. "What's up?"

"I just got off the phone with Stanley." Not knowing who Donna was talking about, CJ just shook her head with a shrug. Donna clarified, "Dr. Stanley Keyworth, the trauma specialist. He was the one who treated-"

"Oh, Josh." CJ's hand came up to cover her mouth, which had opened in dismay. "I hadn't thought about how the shots might affect… is he… how is he?"

"He's… alright. I called Stanley to see if there was anything I could do and he actually did have an idea."

"What was it?"

"Well, he prescribed some fun."

"Fun?" 

"That's what I said. And Stanley then prescribed it for me, too. He said if I had to ask, I needed some too. Actually, he said it was a good idea for any of us who were feeling stressed after tonight."

"What kind of fun?" CJ eyed her quizzically.

"See, you don't know what fun is either."

"I know what fun is…" CJ defended. "We were playing poker earlier, that's fun. And there was rye bread and thin meat. Nothing says a good time like thinly sliced meat."

Donna shook her head; suddenly realizing what a sad commentary on their lives it was that each of them spent their night off at the White House. The doctor was right. And it wasn't just Josh. They all needed to get out of the building. "Stanley seemed to think that, after the shooting, it was important that we actually leave the building for the fun."

"Oh." CJ nodded in understanding.

"So I was thinking… what are you doing tomorrow night?"

CJ pretended to study the calendar on her desk, before glancing back up to Donna. "Nothing."

"How about tomorrow night we all go out, beyond the walls of the White House, and find some fun."

"Okay." CJ nodded her agreement and, satisfied that they had the beginning of a plan, Donna turned to go. 

"What would we do?"

Now Donna turned back; she hadn't gotten that far with the plan. "I dunno."

Stroking her chin thoughtfully, a plan formed in CJ's mind. "Why doesn't everyone come to my place?" 

"Your place?" 

"Yeah, between the card tossing, and the shooting, and the plane and it being the vernal equinox, we barely played any poker tonight."

"The vernal equinox got in your way?" Donna questioned with a grin.

"Yeah, there was an egg thing. We can play poker and have fun outside the White House. A little mini-party."

"Isn't that redundant?"

"Isn't what redundant?"

"Little and mini?"

"I have a small living room and a small table. What would you rather call it?"

"CJ and Donna's Evening of Non-White House Poker Fun?" Donna suggested, but CJ just stared at her until Donna conceded, "Little mini is fine."

"Good. That's settled, we'll have a little mini poker party at my house."

"Would I be able to play?" Donna asked skeptically. She wasn't about to help set up a party where she couldn't participate. 

CJ looked at her with a crinkled brow, as if she were crazy. "Of course."

"Well, I wasn't allowed to play here. Josh wouldn't even let me touch his hand." 

"At my house you can have your own hand," CJ assured her, before stipulating, "But no Fiderer, she's a shark." 

Donna perked up instantly. This sounded like distracting non-White House fun. And something Josh would agree to do. Quickly, she and CJ laid out a plan for the impending little mini poker party and then, feeling calmer than she had since the crash, Donna set off to find Josh. 

***

She watched him at his desk for a moment before she made her presence known. He seemed okay, a little edgy, but nothing that was sending her Josh radar into the danger zone.

"Did you call Stanley?" She finally asked, alerting him to her presence.

"Hey," he greeted as he stood from behind his desk. "I told you I didn't need to." 

"Okay." She was silent for a moment as she watched him gather his belongings. With a bit of nervousness and a slight stutter that she couldn't fully account for, she asked, "What…uh…what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night?" Josh raised a questioning eyebrow at her as he shrugged back into the suit jacket he'd worn that day. 

She couldn't help it, she blushed. She knew she was just apprising him of a party, a party that would also be attended by their co-workers. But in his office, this late at night, inquiring about his Saturday night plans, it felt a little like she was asking him on a date. But that was ridiculous. All she was doing was forcing him to have fun for his own good. 

"Yeah, CJ's having a thing. A little mini poker thing, since you all didn't get to play much tonight and I didn't get to play at all." 

"Little mini?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't that redundant?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," he shrugged and then shot her a questioning glance. "CJ's having a poker party?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't she mention it earlier?"

"Because we just decided."

"You just decided?" Donna nodded in response to his question and he looked at her suspiciously. "Since when do you and CJ plan poker parties?"

"Since now," Donna hedged. 

Something in her manner tipped him off; maybe because she'd given up on him calling Stanley Keyworth. Or maybe because she was looking at him with the eyes. Her worried eyes. Josh had seen them many times before. He felt like she could see right through him when she looked at him like that. She knew too much, she could see too much. And she worried too much. He didn't want her worrying about him, he really was fine. And he couldn’t get over the notion that there was pity laced among the worry. He wouldn't be pitied, especially not by Donna. "What is this about?"

She wrung her hands nervously in front of him. Josh noticed. "Stanley suggested-"

"Donnnaaaa…" Josh sighed exasperatedly as he started out of the bullpen. "I told you I was fine."

"Hear me out. This isn't painful and it isn't all about you." 

At those words, he stopped in the corridor and turned back to face her. She took a deep breath before admitting, "Stanley suggested that we do something fun, outside the White House, to take our minds off of it."

"My mind's not on it."

"Well, mine is," she retorted softly. "And you didn't get to play much poker tonight. So come to CJ's and play some poker tomorrow night. 7 o'clock, I'm bringing dip."

He looked at her and then he couldn’t stop a half-smile from curling his lip. "What kind of dip?"

"Your coming depends on what kind of dip I bring?" 

"Maybe," he teased. 

She humphed in protest, but then played along. "Spinach…" She watched him shake his head. "Artichoke," he shook his head even harder. "Bean-" He raised his eyebrows as if to signify that she was getting somewhere. "Mexican?"

Josh smiled and nodded.

"So you'll come if I bring my Mexican Seven Layer Dip?" He nodded his agreement, and she added, "And we'll have fun and distraction from the thing."

And that's when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joe Quincy being escorted to the front lobby. And a plan, brought on by the stress of the evening, and Donna's numerous requests for him to call Stanley Keyworth, was born. A plan he didn't think through. In the moment his only thought was that if he could distract Donna with the Republican she thought was handsome, maybe she would quit trying to pry into his psyche. Maybe she wouldn’t look at him with the eyes, and wring her hands and worry herself sick about him. Maybe she wouldn’t pity him. To Josh, nothing was worse than pity, especially if Donna was the one doing the pitying. So he promised Donna that he'd be there, with beer, and then unbeknownst to her, he ran after Joe in order to invite him to CJ's poker party. 

Joe had immediately accepted the generous invitation. Since he was taking the job, he could stay the weekend and use Saturday afternoon to look for a new apartment. He was a bit surprised by the friendly offer so soon, but maybe, he thought, these Democrats were just a friendly people. 

As for Josh, the second Joe accepted the offer and headed out of the White House, his chest tightened. And the stomach tumbling started again. And he had an unexplained desire to run after Joe and tell him his LSAT score and that Donna was once a Canadian.

Why did that always happen when he was trying to set Donna up on a date?

And why did he keep doing it?


	2. Chapter 2

In preparation for the little mini poker party, Donna sat her masterpiece-- known to lesser persons who didn't know any better, as dip-- on the counter that divided CJ's kitchen from her dining room. Donna decided that the 'little mini' name didn't really fit, seeing as CJ had exaggerated and her place wasn't all that small. In fact Donna would kill to have an apartment this size. It was bigger than Josh's! But Donna remembered something about CJ making a heck of a lot of money in the private sector before joining the campaign.

The first knock on the door came at 6:58pm. When CJ opened her door to welcome their first guest she was met with a surprise. For CJ, a pleasant, if rather perplexing, surprise.

Donna surveyed CJ's puzzled expression and moved so she could see who had knocked on the door. Once in view, she was more than a little astonished to see Joe Quincy standing there. However, his eyes lit up with relief when he saw her. "Donna! Hi."

"Joe… hi… uh… what are…" She thought better of the question and instead motioned to CJ. "This is CJ."

"Of course, CJ Cregg, it's nice to meet you." He extended his hand hastily. "Joe Quincy. I'm brand new to the Counsel's office." 

"Oh." CJ's mouth froze in the surprised 'o' position, before her demeanor changed. If Donna hadn't known better she would have thought CJ was a bit awestruck as she accepted his proffered hand. 

After a few long seconds of CJ just holding his hand, Joe, seeming unsure of the situation, squinted and looked past her into the apartment. "You're having a party? Poker…"

"Yes… YES… a party… you're here for the party, please come in." She ushered him through the door. "Make yourself at home… uh… Donna and I will just go get you a drink. Because that's what people do at parties, they drink. Do you drink? What am I saying, of course you drink. Not that I'm implying that you're a drunk or that all lawyers are drunks. I just mean everyone drinks… some form of liquid. Water being a liquid." CJ clamped her lips together in order to try to stop the madness. "What can I get for you?"

Awkwardly, Joe smiled at her. "Any liquid is fine."

"Good." CJ turned towards the kitchen, but before she started walking she looked back to him. "Soda… beer… juice… seven and seven?" 

Donna stared at CJ quizzically; she'd never seen her act so… so… girly. And, of course, by girly she meant like a frazzled, teenage nincompoop.

"A beer would be great." 

"Imported, domestic, micro?" 

Donna noticed that Joe was starting to look a little nervous, so she grabbed CJ's arm and leaned past her to address Joe. "We'll surprise you."

"Great." Joe's eyes were darting around the room, as he wondered where the other party goers were. Instead of poker, perhaps he'd been lured into some sort of terrifying initiation ritual for the Bartlet White House. 

Once they reached the kitchen, Donna tried to hide her amusement while demanding, "Did you take some amphetamines when I wasn't looking?" 

CJ swallowed hard and tried to appear nonchalant as she opened the refrigerator door and began searching for a beer. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"I've not seen such a display since Carol faked that charlie horse in order to get Pedro, the hot Secret Service agent, to give her a calf rub-down on Air Force One!" 

"There was no such display," CJ asserted as she continued searching the fridge.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find him a beer. Where did you put it?"

Donna laid her hand on CJ's arm and gently steered her back from the fridge. "We have no beer, remember, Josh is bringing the beer and he's not here yet."

CJ shut the refrigerator door and leaned back against it. "But I just promised him a beer. I made a big production about beer. Where is Josh with the beer?"

Donna studied her oddly. "I have never seen-"

"Are you upset?" CJ cut her off, but sounded earnest while doing it.

Not understanding, Donna's forehead crinkled. Upset? Because Josh wasn't there yet? "I'm sure he'll-"

"Because he's cute, really cute, but you did see him first." 

"Actually, you saw Josh first-"

"Not Josh! That guy. In the living room. The living room guy. What's his name."

"Ooooh…" Donna blushed that she'd been semi-caught thinking about Josh, when she herself should have been distracted by hot living room guy. But in her defense the whole night was supposed to be about distracting Josh, and that was what was distracting her.

"No seriously, what's his name? I don't remember his name. I was a little-"

"Frazzled? Silly? Boy-crazy?" Donna helped. 

"I was going to say preoccupied. You know it's not just Josh, my life has been in danger repeatedly, too. It makes a girl…"

"Preoccupied?" Donna asked, this time with more sympathy. Between the landing gear on Air Force One and shootings the last few weeks, it was enough to stress anyone out. 

"Exactly. I need to blow off some steam too, every once in awhile," CJ lamented before prodding, "His name?"

"Joe. His name is Joe Quincy. And I agree, he's-"

"Delicious," CJ supplied before Donna could finish her sentence. Donna noted that it was about the fifth time since they entered the kitchen that she hadn't been able to finish her side of the conversation. "I want to spread him on one of these little breads and eat him up." CJ motioned to the tray containing Donna's spinach-artichoke dip.

"You're comparing him to dip?" Donna questioned, struggling to keep a straight face. 

"No, not dip…" CJ thought for a second. "If he's an appetizer he's caviar, a fine Beluga caviar."

"First a baseball player in the other team's dugout and now fancy fish eggs… this guy really inspires people to metaphor."

"Why didn't you tell me there was new eye caviar in the building? And that you had invited the eye caviar?"

"Eye caviar?" Donna choked on a laugh before putting her hand to her chest. "I didn't invite him."

"You didn't?" CJ asked and Donna quickly shook her head. "Well if you didn't, who did?"

"I think the only other person he knows is Josh. Had to be Josh."

"So you didn't invite him for yourself?" CJ perked up considerably.

With a slight shake of her head, Donna indicated that she hadn't.

"Good, that's very good." CJ walked into the other room, muttering, "Well this little mini party is just getting better and better. But where in the hell is Josh with the beer?" 

Just then there was a knock at the front door. Before anyone could even move to answer it, the door opened to reveal Josh, Toby and beer.

***

When Josh entered his eyes immediately found Donna. He sighed with relief, she was in the kitchen and the loverboy lawyer was in the living room. That was very good. Through the course of the day, the thought of Donna with the Republican Joe Quincy had made him a little bit crazier with each passing minute. Over and over again his mind ran scenarios of all the possible horrific outcomes, until he was determined that this was one relationship that would never get off the ground. But, like always, he didn't examine _why_ it was necessary that it never got off the ground. 

Josh's fixation with keeping Joe and Donna apart had one unintended, yet positive, side-effect. It had achieved Donna's goal for the evening. Josh was fully distracted from the shooting incident of the night before; in fact he hadn't given it a thought all day.

So tonight he had one mission and one mission only, to keep Joe Quincy away from his… Donna. Even though nothing had been put into motion, beyond the two potential lovebirds attending the same party, Josh knew that the damage was already done. Because Donna had made a big deal about how handsome the guy was, so she was obviously interested. And as for Joe… it was Donna! Of course he would be interested in her, because what man wouldn’t be interested in Donna?

Even though Josh regarded Joe Quincy as the enemy, tonight he still had to put up a good front. So when he walked in he greeted Joe with a smile—a forced smile-- and introduced him to Toby. Meanwhile, CJ relieved him of one of the beers he was carrying and promptly handed it to Joe.

Just then another knock sounded at the door and the arrival of Charlie, Ed and Carol gave Josh cover to make his way to the kitchen and Donna. 

"Hey." He sauntered in and set the beer on the counter. 

"Hey." Donna smiled at him as she continued arranging the food. She'd been surreptitiously watching him since the moment he came in the door. So far nothing had set her Josh-dar off the charts, but she was a little troubled. He seemed a bit… stiff. And watching him in the living room just now, she could tell his smile was fake. He was obviously still wound up from the shooting. 

But she resisted the overwhelming desire she had to ask him how he was. Tonight was about fun and relaxation, and she knew that Josh found questions about his mental state to be neither of those two things. So instead she smiled brightly at him. "You remembered the beer."

He felt his chest constrict when she turned her smile on him. Must have had a bad… peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. "Of course I remembered the beer."

She studied him; he looked relaxed, but that might have been the clothes. She loved casual Josh. He was wearing jeans and an untucked, green-and-white checked button up shirt with the sleeves haphazardly rolled up. But what she loved most was that she recognized the shirt. He'd needed something casual in New Hampshire during re-election and she'd had to make an emergency run to The Gap for it. It made her feel connected to him, which in turn made her smile.

"I'm glad, but you've been known to forget things before," she teased as she accidentally brushed against him on her way to put one of the six packs in the refrigerator. And by accidentally brushing against him, that meant she made a concerted effort to do so by making a detour to the counter where he was standing, using the excuse of popping an olive in her mouth. After last night she had such an overwhelming need to touch him, be near him, to make sure he was still solid and safe. She didn't like green olives necessarily, but it was a small price to pay.

Josh was definitely affected by her olive-popping proximity. He felt his breath catch, but recovered himself as she continued towards the fridge and smirked, "You don't forget beer when you're going to a poker party. Beer is a very important element of poker."

"So what you're saying is that with beer, your memory is perfect, but… hypothetically had your job been to, say… bring milk… there's no way you would have remembered it?"

Josh fought a smile. "And I would be bringing milk to a poker party… why?"

"Because someone wanted to drink it?" Donna suggested.

"Is this a poker party for four-year-olds? Because I'm not sure why I would be attending such a party in the first place."

"It's hypothetical, Josh." 

Motioning towards the counter with his head, he smirked, "Did you hypothetically forget to make the Mexican dip? Because that doesn’t look like layers to me, in fact I think I see green leafy vegetables in there. You know I only came for the dip."

She sneered playfully at him, before she peeled the foil off of the platter next to the spinach-artichoke dip. "Because I live to serve, I made both. Saving the first bite for you."

He grinned inwardly, before sticking a chip in the dip. While he ate he noticed the bottle of wine on the counter. "I see you didn't wait for the beer."

Donna glanced at the over half empty bottle and then her eyes darted to her wine glass. It was still full. In fact she could have sworn she'd taken maybe two sips since CJ had poured her the glass when she first got there, so there had been no refills for her. And it all came together. Maybe Chardonnay-buzz accounted for CJ's hormonal outburst at the first sign of fresh man meat. Or it could be that CJ had confided that she hadn't been interested in a man since Simon and even though she'd had a little reunion at her reunion, she was feeling the spring itch. And there was the whole life-in-danger thing. That was probably a deadly combination— desire, desperation, stress… and alcohol.

She looked back to Josh. "My glass is still full; I have to stay sober if I'm going to take your money."

"Take my money?"

"You heard me. Tonight I'm playing and you can't stop me."

"I wouldn't dream of preventing you from giving me your money." They both stood in the kitchen staring at each other with challenging, yet smiling, eyes.

"First Lieutenant Bailey!" They were distracted from their staredown by CJ's voice from the living room. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be making the world a better place one missile silo at a time?'

"I missed my ride at Andrews last night. So they scrapped it and scheduled me for duty next weekend instead. Toby told me about the party. I hope its okay that I'm here. I brought beer."

"Of course," CJ replied robustly, but seconds later she joined them in the kitchen. "What are we going to do?" She hissed at them dramatically.

"What?" Donna asked, matching her whisper.

"We have too many people. With Joe and Will unexpectedly showing, and Charlie bringing Ed… that's nine. We can't play with nine."

"Why not?" Josh asked, helping himself to an olive.

"The book says between 6 and 8 players is the optimum number." 

"The book, what book?" Josh asked with amusement as he lazed against the counter.

"The 'throw your own little mini poker party' book!" CJ glared at him as she refilled her wine glass. "This party is no longer little or mini."

"We can play with nine," he assured her.

CJ ignored him and lamented, "Six was perfect, seven would squeeze comfortably around the table, and eight will be tight. But there is no way nine of us will fit."

"I'll sit out," Donna said nobly, trying to mask how glum that idea made her feel.

"But you were looking forward to playing." Josh shook his head adamantly.

"Exactly, she was looking forward to playing, because you wouldn't let her play last night," CJ charged. "Josh should be the one to sit out because he invited Joe without telling us, not that Joe being here is a bad thing, because it's not. It's good. Or fine. It's fine that he's here."

Josh looked at CJ oddly while Donna positively glared at her. Apparently, CJ had forgotten the purpose of the evening of distraction. Josh. Through gritted teeth, Donna ground out, "No, Josh is not sitting out."

Josh's eyes were surveying the living room and he was struck by an idea. A really, really good idea. He addressed Donna. "We could… play as partners."

"Partners?"

"Sure. Share the hand and then there’ll only technically be eight players."

"That doesn't solve the room-around-the-table issue."

"I've got a plan." Josh quirked his lip smugly at her, this was playing right into his hand. If she agreed then he'd be able to accomplish his objective for the evening without much effort.

Donna narrowed her eyes at him. "But then how am I going to take your money?"

"You're going to have to content yourself with taking our co-workers’ money."

"I'm not sure how this is going to work…"

"It's going to work." He pinned her with his gaze and she felt a little like the room was whirling, which was weird because unlike CJ she hadn't had much wine.

"And we'll play with your money, and my brains?"

"How about we play with my money, my brains and your looks," he teased, knowing he had already won. In more ways than one.

"Why do we need looks for poker?" She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

"You know, for bluffing and whatnot. It's very important. That'll be your department, and I'll do all the thinking."

"Your money, my looks, and _both_ our brains." Donna finally offered, noticing that Josh hadn't seemed stiff or on edge since he entered the kitchen. Her plan was already working!

Josh relented with a smirk. "Fine, but Toby and Will are card sharks so you better summon everything you learned that semester you were a drama major."

"Shouldn't be a problem… after all I'm able to bluff you everyday." Snatching her wine glass off the counter, she winked at him on her way out of the kitchen.

Before he was ready or able to follow her to the living room, Josh had to spend several minutes reciting Medicare reform in his head. Because, for reasons ignored by Josh, the wink— probably working in combination with the sashay in her walk and the form-fitting emerald T-shirt she was wearing that had ridden up and exposed a slice of alabaster between its hem and her low-riding jeans--had sent a jolt of arousal straight to his core.


	3. Romance of Poker, The

"What is this?" Donna asked Josh as everyone started getting seated around the table.

"I don't know… a bench from some sort of musical instrument," he replied as he situated it at the table. He set the bench so that the narrow end was at the table and the long side stretched out away, perpendicular to the table.

"An organ, Josh," CJ offered. "That's an organ in the corner of my living room." She leaned over Joe as she set her drink by the chair next to him and explained, "I don't play."

"That's too bad… I… uh… it's a lost art," Joe replied, not knowing what to say.

"Yes. A lost art! My great aunt left it to me; maybe I'll learn to play. I could play… great organ music. What is great organ music, exactly?"

"I think they have organs… at churches… so maybe church music?" Joe answered earnestly.

"I don't know if I want to spend my minimal free time playing church music," CJ admitted with a grimace.

"I can play the organ," Carol offered eagerly with a wide smile at Joe. CJ turned to glare at her and Carol sat back. "Or not."

"Where am I supposed to sit?" Donna asked as Josh swung his leg over the bench so that he was straddling it.

"Right here," Josh motioned to the space right in front of him. He was now sitting on the back half of the rectangular bench, a leg on either side.

"You're joking." Donna could not sit in front of Josh like that. She just couldn't. Was he crazy?

"Nope, see, this way we can both see the cards without showing the whole table. Besides, see how you're in front. It's almost like you're in charge. You like to pretend you're in charge."

"I'll sit behind you; I can still be in charge behind you." She hoped no one heard the way her voice cracked. But the idea of being trapped between Josh and the table—well it wasn't unappealing – but she just… she just couldn't!

But Josh instantly shook his head at the suggestion.

"Why not? I'm taller," Donna reasoned. 

"You are not!" Josh immediately shot back.

"I really am," she replied smugly, looking down at him. "Stand up, I'll prove it."

Defiantly, Josh shot to his feet. Donna turned him around and then pressed her back against his. She felt a tingle shoot through her entire body from the spots where they touched. But she knew she couldn’t show it, so she practiced her bluffing. Pretending that she was unaffected by Josh pressed against her, behind to behind, she looked across the table to CJ. "CJ, whose taller?"

CJ sat back and swirled her wine. "Hmm… even with Josh's poofy hair, it goes to Donna… by a hair." She cackled at her own joke and then looked to Joe. "Another beer?"

"Well I still have half-"

"Nonsense, I'll get you one." She rose quickly from her seat with single-minded determination. Determination to get her next door poker neighbor… drunk.

Incensed by the comment about his hair, Josh had had trouble finding his voice. And when he did, it squeaked. "My hair is not poofy! It's unruly at times-"

"It's a little poofy, Josh," Charlie interjected.

But Josh ignored him and continued ranting, "…and she is wearing boots with three inch heels… at least!"

"How do you know I have heeled boots? You're not even looking at my feet!" Donna retorted.

"You always wear three inch heels." He smirked at her. "So you see, I'm taller in the real world, not your fake boot world, and you should also be in front because when you're drinking you tend to let your hands roam."

"I do not let my hands roam!" She looked around the table, but said to no one in particular, "I'm not a hand roamer."

Before she could register another objection he sat down on the back half of the bench. "With your roaming hands, I would just feel more comfortable with you in front. Remember, we're going to pretend like you're in charge. It'll be fun."

"There's no pretending, I am in charge." She relented huffily, deciding that continuing to refuse would call even more attention to them. So she sat down in front of him, but was careful not to touch him, even incidentally. Unlike earlier in the kitchen when she went out of her way for contact, in front of their co-workers she was incredibly self-conscious.

Will was sitting at the head of the table shuffling the cards as everyone got settled. Toby was busy collecting cash and passing out the chips he'd brought.

Donna, sitting ramrod straight, thought she felt several pairs of eyes now watching her curiously. Apparently, the ship had sailed on the calling-attention-to-them thing. But not for the reason she'd imagined. She tried to appear nonchalant by taking a sip of her wine.

"Did you and Josh get dressed together?" Carol asked while studying her curiously.

At that Donna choked on her wine. "Wh-wh-what!?" 

"It's like you're wearing team-colors or something. You match."

"No, it's… it's… it's not." Donna sputtered, still choking. Josh started whacking her on the back. Which really didn't help all that much. When she finally stopped hacking and Josh had stopped whacking, she glanced down at Josh's sleeve. The greens in their shirts matched perfectly. "We don't match," she lied after taking a sip of the water that Toby had fetched for her.

"It's cute," Carol commented as if the whole choking thing hadn't happened.

"It's not cute," Donna countered incredulously.

Charlie added sardonically, "It's kinda cute."

Ed turned from his position next to Donna. "I think it's cute too. You're like JCrew cover models, even with Josh's poofy hair."

"It's really not cute or-" Donna replied sharply.

"If one more person says my hair is poofy-" Josh started complaining at the same time.

"Should we call a vote?" Charlie interrupted both of them matter-of-factly. "Everyone who thinks that Josh and Donna look cute in their matching outfits and Josh's poofy hair, say ‘Aye-‘" 

Donna's salvation came from an unlikely source. Toby. He interrupted Charlie with a grunt. "Pay up, everyone, there are no free rides in this game." 

Obviously, the vision of her and her boss in matching—no, not matching, accidentally the same color—clothing, sitting back to front on an organ bench, was nothing short of incriminating. And Josh was not helping with the roaming hands thing. She needed to throw people off the scent. Not that there was anything to smell. Donna shook her head to clear her mind-- that thought came out wrong. But she still needed to redirect everyone's attention. Clearing her throat, she smiled brightly at the man across the table. "So Joe, tell us all about yourself!"

Carol lit up from her spot at the table where she'd still been sizing up the newcomer, despite CJ's earlier glare. "Yes, Joe, where are you from, where'd you go to school, what about your family…are you married?"

Joe darted his eyes around the group nervously after taking a swig from his beer. "Um… well… I…" 

Donna noted his nervousness at being put in the spotlight and felt bad. "Carol… why don't you ask his shoe size and the name of his third grade teacher? I didn't mean that we should give him the third degree. Don't mind us." She turned a look on Joe that some might consider flirtatious. "We might look like we bite, but we don't."

Joe smiled gratefully at her. "Shoe size: eleven, my third grade teacher was Mrs. Darrow, until she ran off with the married music teacher in a scandal that-- later in life-- I learned rocked the whole town, and was replaced by Miss Greenberg. And I'm not married."

Josh felt his blood pressure rise as Joe smiled over at him. Well, at Donna in front of him. Couldn't Joe tell Donna was off limits? For God’s sakes, she was sitting between his legs! And apparently they had on matching shirts! Wasn't that the international sign for 'Back off my woman?'

"He went to Cal," Josh provided from behind Donna. "I went to Yale and Harvard. Actually, I went to Harvard first and then to Yale, for law school."

Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Josh. Donna just rolled her eyes and hung her head slightly.

Toby cleared his throat. "Thanks Josh, I'd forgotten. It's been at least three days since you mentioned it. Is someone dealing or what?"

"You went to Cal!" CJ exclaimed excitedly as she set a beer in front of Joe and pulled out the seat she'd saved next to him. "What a small world. So did I. When did you graduate?"

"You did?" Joe perked up at the idea that he had shared a common experience with one of them. "I graduated from law school in '94. What about you?"

CJ's eyes went wide as she did the math and realized that he had to be at least 8 years her junior. "I graduated… uh… a little before that. Just missed you…" Searching her mind, CJ quickly tried to turn the subject from her graduation year; no reason to advertise the age difference. "But, you know, go Bears. Do you… uh… remember Big C?"

"Does one ever forget? Now, was Gilbertson or Snyder the coach when you-" Joe started to ask. 

CJ, absolutely desperate to redirect before he ascertained her graduation year, interrupted him. 

"California!   
On our rugged Eastern foothills, stand our symbol clear and bold." 

The White House Press Secretary was singing. Out loud. And after a few prodding waves of her hand, she was joined a moment later by the newest White House associate counsel.

"Big C means to fight and strive   
and win for Blue and Gold.   
Golden Bear is ever watching,   
Day by day he prowls.   
And when he hears the tread of lowly Stanford Red,   
from his lair he fiercely growls!   
"GR-RR-RAH, GR-RR-RAH, GR-R, R-R-R-, R-R-RAH!" CJ and Joe yelled together and when they were done, they high-fived. 

"That was most definitely the most disturbing display I've ever seen," Toby stated after they had finished. "Seriously, are we singing or playing poker?"

"Poker, definitely poker," Will chimed in as he reached into his front pocket, brought out a pair of sunglasses, and put them on.

"I might vote for singing." Charlie studied Will for a moment before asking sardonically, "Who do you think you are wearing sunglasses inside, Ray Charles?"

"It's so you can't read my eyes," Will stated unapologetically.

"I thought this was a friendly game." Charlie glared at him pointedly.

"Poker is never friendly."

Josh nudged Donna from behind. "Told you he was a card shark. Put your bluff face on."

"My bluff face?"

"Yeah, the one you use when you're bluffing me 'everyday.' By the way, what do you have to bluff me about everyday?"

She ignored him, though it was hard with the way his voice rumbled in her ear and she could feel his heat behind her. His nearness was a little like fire licking her from behind. But she pulled herself together. "Joe, CJ… very nice singing, I thought it was a very festive way to kick off the game," Donna defended them as she reached over and swiped the cards from Will. "But I'll deal."

She felt rather than heard Josh snort behind her. "Do you know how to deal? Maybe you should watch once or twice before you dive in."

"Ignore the man behind the curtain, he's not really playing. He's just my bank." Immediately she squealed from the goose he gave her side. Regaining her composure she looked to the man on her left as she gave the cards another shuffle. "Let's get some money on the table. Ed, small blind please, Charlie you're the big blind."

The two men set out their chips and after she had Toby cut the deck, Donna quickly flicked cards around the table until everyone had two cards face down.

"What do we have?" Donna felt Josh's warm whisper against her ear and a shiver ran through her entire body. First fire and now a shiver. She was on a roller-coaster of sensation. This Josh-proximity thing was making it hard to concentrate. But she had to, because right now she was going to prove to Josh that she was capable of playing cards. And bluffing.

"Trust me." 

"Donnaaaaa…"

"Are you saying you don't trust me, Josh?"

"I trust you in many situations, but-"

"You agreed I could be the brains." 

"No, I agreed you could be the looks and we would both be the brains," Josh clarified.

"Well, then, this hand I'm the brains, next hand we'll use yours."

"I thought we could, you know, pool our brains. Combine them; put our heads together, so to speak." 

For some reason Donna felt a little fluttery at that thought. Maybe it was because of the thought of putting their heads together, or maybe it was his breath on her exposed neck—her hair was in a ponytail, much the same as it had been the night before-- or maybe it was that he'd crept forward slightly and she felt the inside of his jean-clad thighs pressing against her own jean-covered hips. It felt-

"Donna?"

"Huh?" She was startled out of her thought about what Josh's thighs felt like and was embarrassed to realize everyone was looking at her. Waiting.

"It's your bet," Toby advised. 

She glanced at the pot and saw that the entire table had played it safe and called the minimum. She furrowed her brow and tried to look confused. You know, for the bluffing. "What to do… what to do," she muttered to herself. "Hmmm, since I'm not playing with my own money, let's make this interesting. I'll see the blind and raise you double."

Everyone at the table, including Josh, groaned. Still, everyone but Ed called her bet.

"Donna what are you doing?" Josh whispered fiercely from behind her.

"Making things interesting. You know what they say in poker, don't you?"

"No."

"Go big or go home."

"Yes, but you're going big with my money."

"I know, that's why it's easy for me to do," she replied perkily and picked up the pile of cards in order to continue dealing.

"Now you-" Josh started to explain what her next deal should be.

"Burn one. Thank you, Josh." Her voice was exaggerated and she turned one card face down. "And now for the flop." She dealt three face up. "Hmmm… we're workin' off a rainbow here, doesn't look good for a flush. But some pretty cards nonetheless. Ace, King and a deuce. How are you feelin', my man Charlie?"

[ A ] [ K ] [ 2 ] 

"What are you, some sort of secret card shark?" Josh asked softly from behind as the betting continued.

"Yes," she whispered matter-of-factly as she secretly filled with glee at his almost acknowledgement of her skill. She was also pretty ecstatic about her cards. But she didn't want to let that show either; she was a card shark after all and the 'looks' of their particular operation.

"No, seriously," Josh questioned sarcastically.

"I know things, Josh. Card things. Poker things."

"How did you learn these poker things?"

"From, you know, playing poker."

"Again I say, no seriously."

"It's in my blood, Josh. I have poker blood."

"You read a book, didn't you?"

"Maybe." She'd gone to a book store first thing that morning and by noon she knew everything there was to know about Texas Hold 'Em.

"Are you going to tell me what cards we have, or not?"

She twisted on the bench and cupped her hand around her mouth as she whispered in his ear. "Big Slick, diamond spade."

He sat behind her, relishing for a few seconds how close she was to him, before admitting out loud, "I don't know what that means."

"Then you'll just have to trust me."

When the betting got around to Donna after the flop, she once again raised big as Josh once again groaned loudly behind her. One couldn’t really blame him, the stakes were already quite high for the first hand of the evening and he didn't even know what cards they had. With Donna's raise, Charlie and Toby both folded. Donna looked at the remaining players. CJ wasn't looking at her cards, but was trying to sneak peeks over at her singing partner. For that matter, Carol was outright staring at him admiringly. She almost felt bad that she was going to take their money. Almost. Will was sitting back with his shades, hiding an already inscrutable expression and Joe was looking at the, as yet, undealt deck of cards, almost as if he was trying to size it up.

"Alright, let's see what we've got." She burned another card and placed the next card face up. "A seven." 

[ A ] [ K ] [ 2 ] [ 7 ] 

"Does that help us?" Josh leaned forward and whispered in her ear. He was really going to have to stop doing that if she was expected to be the full brains of the operation. It was threatening to turn her brains to mush.

The entire table checked, but when it got to Donna she once again raised. 

Carol looked at the cards one last time before tossing them to the side. "That wasn't what I was hoping for."

"Too rich for my blood," CJ complained and tossed her cards on the table as well.

Joe looked over at her and then quietly saw her bet. Will looked from the pot to Donna and back again. "I think you're bluffing, I think you learned to play cards from Fiderer. Nevertheless, I'm out."

Donna surveyed Joe. "It's just you and me and from your expression, I'm guessing you're hoping to ride the river."

He gave her a half smile and shrugged as she flipped the last card. 

"An ace." She tried not to show her jubilation as Will whistled loudly and several other people oooed and awed. "We have a pair of aces showing."

[ A ] [ K ] [ 2 ] [ 7 ] [ A ] 

Joe looked at the cards and then up at Donna and smiled confidently as he pushed a new stack of chips to the center of the table "I'll raise the bet to thirty dollars."

Donna didn't flinch as a couple of people hooted while others whistled and advised her that he was bluffing. "I'll see your thirty and raise you another thirty." 

"You're killing me back here," Josh announced. He had over a hundred dollars in the pot. Yet, he still put a hand on either side of her arms and rubbed up and down as if he was prepping her for victory.

Joe called her raise and pushed another thirty dollars worth of chips towards the pot. 

Donna narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you have?"


	4. Romance of Poker, The

"Two pair. Aces over Queens." Joe triumphantly turned his cards to expose a pair of pocket queens.

JOE: [ Q ] [ Q ] COMMUNITY CARDS: [ A ] [ K ] [ 2 ] [ 7 ] [ A ] 

"That's a really good hand." Donna grimaced and, defeated, Josh dropped his forehead to rest on her shoulder.

Joe smirked and leaned forward to collect his winnings. 

"But it's not as good as a full house… aces over kings." Donna announced jubilantly as she flipped her cards to expose an ace and a king.

DONNA : [ A ] [ K ] COMMUNITY CARDS: [ A ] [ K ] [ 2 ] [ 7 ] [ A ] 

Whoops and hollers rang out around the table and Donna blushed hotly with the success of her hand.

"We won?" Josh's head snapped back up and he peered over Donna's shoulder at the improbable full house. He pumped his fists in the air. "WE WON!" 

Still from behind, now he wrapped his arms around her midsection and started shaking her up and down proudly. "I can't believe we won."

Donna thought she might explode from the heat of his arms surrounding her and his front pressed firmly against his chest. But she wasn't complaining.

"Did someone not shuffle that deck? Look at all those face cards." Toby grumped.

"I shuffled it for half an hour, and you cut the cards." Will pointed out helpfully and unnecessarily.

"Are those ladies glasses?" Toby retorted back at him with an almost smile on his face.

"No." Will responded defensively as his hand automatically went up to adjust his sunglasses. His stony façade slipped a bit at Toby's ribbing.

"Really, because I swear I saw a pair just like them on Myrtle who works the cash register in the mess."

Will looked indignant as Charlie and Carol openly snickered at Toby's joke, but Josh was too busy celebrating to pay their posturing any mind. "Ace, king, why didn't you tell me what kind of hand we had? I thought you were bluffing, you almost gave me a heart attack," he demanded playfully when he stopped celebrating and unwrapped himself from around her middle. Immediately, Donna missed his warmth and was sorry to feel the celebration come to an end; she had rather enjoyed his way of celebrating. 

She twisted to face him, "I told you we had the Big Slick! When you start with ace over king it's called a Big Slick."

"Oh… I thought you were being perverted and making a pass at me." Josh explained with a smirk. In response to that remark she whapped him on the shoulder.

"Making a pass at you? I've never made a pass at you before…" He snorted at that, but she continued to whisper incredulously, "Why would you think I would choose to do it now while dealing cards to seven of our co-workers?"

"Well, you never know, I thought maybe the romance of poker had gotten to you." He shrugged smugly.

"The romance of poker?"

"It's a thing." 

She grimaced at him, but her heart rate was elevating and she was feeling a little whooshy as she turned back to the table. Being this close to Josh for a prolonged period of time, while talking about her making a pass at him, was heady stuff. What if people noticed how affected she was? Finally back to reality, she realized she had to continue to try and throw them off the scent. 

"Sorry to be inhospitable, Joe." Donna said with what could be construed as a flirty wink at him as she reached out and pulled the pot towards her with both arms. "It's not personal, it's just poker."

He pushed his chair back in order to rise and bowed slightly to her. "As the cliché says, you win some, you lose some. Good thing I have a new job. I think I'll just go console myself some more of that great… what is it… Spinach-artichoke dip?"

"Yes… that's exactly what it is and thank you!" Donna beamed at Joe.

"Oh, did you make it?" Joe asked her.

"I did." Donna continued to look pleased as punch. "The secret is the cheese. Four kinds."

"The cheese part was excellent." Joe agreed with mock seriousness.

"Wisconsin is the cheese state." Josh offered out of the blue. "They make over 350 kinds of cheeses there. Donna's from Wisconsin."

Joe nodded his head once. "Yes, you mentioned that last night."

Donna twisted around to stare inquiringly at Josh. "You mentioned I was from Wisconsin during Joe's interview? How did that come up?"

Wide-eyed, Josh just shrugged. But he remembered; it had been while discussing death threats against Donna. Not a topic he wanted to broach at a party. "Just, you know, in conversation."

Joe darted his eyes between the two before he complimented, "Then hats off to the poker player and the chef… from Wisconsin." 

"She's actually from Madison, which is the state capital and the home of the University of Wisconsin." Josh continued to recite even more information designed to show how connected they were. "That's where she went to school. Her family still lives there. Mom, Dad, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles… also her favorite teacher, Molly Morello. I had the President call her… wrote a memo when she retired. How is Mrs. Morello, Donna?" Josh's ramble ended in the question.

"Uh… according to her Christmas card, she's fine," Donna's forehead furrowed as she had once again twisted around to shoot him a probing look as he rambled about her family. But Josh was staring at Joe, even when he asked her the question. With a curious shake of her head, she turned back to her conversation with Joe. "And I'm not a chef, but thank you." Thinking of the praise she blushed slightly. "It's easy." 

"Well… my ex-girlfriend used to try and make something like that and it was always a disaster." He smiled at her as he headed for the kitchen. "I'll have to get you to make it for my next Super Bowl party."

Inviting her to cook for him? Joe was flirting with Donna! He was a typical Republican wanting his woman barefoot, in the kitchen and pregnant! That thought, the thought of Donna pregnant with the Republican Joe Quincy's baby sent a tidal wave of nausea crashing in Josh's gut. It took him a second to recover and he even had to put his hand on Donna's shoulder to steady himself. Seeing as Donna cooking for this man and having his baby was NOT the plan, Josh pulled himself together and still not recognizing exactly why, tried to stake his claim one more time. "Donna doesn't watch football; she just likes to bet on underdogs with my money."

"Kind of like I’m betting-- and so far winning-- with your money tonight?" Donna retorted. "You better be nice because right now I have control of the chips."

Josh didn't respond to that bait. Because he was having trouble paying attention to anything but the Republican Joe Quincy as he walked into the kitchen. His eyes narrowed even further, if this guy was all over Donna then Josh was going to be all over him.

Noticing Josh's glower, Will hopped to his feet. "Who needs a beer?" He took a head count and took off for the kitchen as well.

CJ, seeing her chance, looked at Donna pointedly. "Donna, I was hoping to show you something… uh… could I see you in the bedroom?"

At that Ed let out a cat whistle. CJ rolled her eyes at him in disgust as she grabbed her wine glass off the table and quickly stood. 

Donna looked from left to right. Ed was shuffling the cards in anticipation of his deal. Charlie and Carol were discussing something and Toby had started an argument with Josh about the odds of winning with a pocket of off-suit face cards. 

"Uh… sure." Donna replied curiously.

***

"You have to find out if he likes me." CJ whispered fiercely when she'd shut the door to the guest room.

"Who?"

"Joe!"

"Oh…" Donna studied CJ for a long moment. Her eyes were focused and the only sign she was drunk was a slight wobble when she'd shut the door… and of course her ridiculous request. "How am I supposed to do that? Pass him a note in geometry?"

"Don't mock me."

"Trust me, I wish there was no reason to mock, but you're very mockable right now. Besides he seems to be enjoying sitting by you. He sang that lame song with you, what more do you need to know?" Donna pointed out, hoping to get out of the adolescent espionage that CJ was trying to drag her into.

"It's not lame. And singing doesn't tell us anything definitive. I need to know what my chances are of getting him in bed tonight for a wild, one-night sexathon."

Sexathon?" Donna choked on the word. "What's a sexathon?"

"Pretty much self-explanatory there Donna."

"Well… I wouldn’t know. I've mostly had lie-there-while-selfish-boyfriends-get-off-athons…" She mumbled, frankly, a little jealous. Donna realized sadly that she'd never had anything that could truly be classified as a sexathon. But her jealousy of CJ's more varied sexual experience had nothing to do with her sense of foreboding. "Do you think it wise to have a one-night sexathon with a guy who is going to be working in the White House?" 

"Trust me; I've had one-night stands where it was less of a good idea than this." As if to punctuate the sentiment, CJ downed the last of the wine in her glass.

"Really?" Donna sounded intrigued.

"The point is…" CJ brushed off her curiosity. "People my age… I mean our age, mostly meet potential mates, or you know sexathon partners, at work. It's a fact. And I'm sure the statistic only gets greater if you factor in White House hours. So I really have no choice if I want to get some. Besides he's so cute… and virile. You need to get him alone so no one else hears and then pepper him with questions designed to assess the odds of me having sex with him… but without, you know, giving away why you're doing it."

"Sure, hat should be no problem." Donna rolled her eyes, thinking of about a thousand problems with that scenario. "What kind of questions?"

"You know… ask him if he's interested in anyone and then say some complimentary things about me and see if he responds in a favorable manor."

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Two maybe three glasses of wine. Why do you ask?'

The younger woman wore a half-smile as she shook her head. "No reason."

"So you'll do it?"

Donna heaved a long sigh. "I'll see what I can do. That's all I can promise."

"I'll take it." CJ turned to exit before Donna's stopped her.

"CJ?"

"Yeah?" 

"Do you think Josh is being… I don't know… weird?" Donna's voice was more curious than concerned, because Donna wasn't thinking that Josh was having PTSD issues. 

"No weirder than usual."

"Okay." But Donna wasn't convinced.

***

When Will was alone in the kitchen with Joe he gave himself an internal pep talk before asking, "What are you doing? Do you want to make an enemy of the Deputy Chief of Staff?"

Joe whipped around to face Will. He had no idea what was going on, but he did know the answer to that question was a no-brainer. After a second to get his bearings he quickly shook his head. "No. But why am I making an enemy of him? I just lost a sizeable amount of money to him." 

"If you don't want to piss him off, then don't hit on his assistant."

Outwardly, Joe crinkled his brow. Inwardly, he started to sweat and his mouth went dry. "I didn't hit on her. That's not hitting on her; I'm just trying to be polite and friendly… to everyone."

"I suggest that you make it obvious that you're not hitting on her. If there is an opposite of hitting on her, do that."

"Opposite of hitting on her…" Joe tried to wrap his mind around the lunacy. He studied Will quizzically. "Let me guess, you found out the hard way?"

"Me… no. But I've seen things; I've played the bad cop. One guy, who did it, was mysteriously transferred out of the country. Trust me, one new guy to another; you don't want to go there."

"I have no idea what you're talking about and I really had no plans to either go there or not go there, but I… uh… appreciate the heads up." He finished nervously and smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth dryly. It felt like every drop of moisture had instantly been wrung from his body.

"No problem," Will clasped him on the back.

"Any other women I should stay away from?" Joe attempted a joke.

"Nope… well, I'm not sure about the CJ/Toby thing." Will thought back to the night before, and the intense conversation about faith. He'd had a feeling that more was being said than he understood.

"There's a CJ/Toby thing?" Joe asked edgily. He would have sworn under oath that the singing Press Secretary was flirting with him. 

"Like I said I'm not sure, but come to think of it, his ex-wife is pregnant with his twins so probably not, you're probably safe on that front." 

If it was possible to look terrified yet intrigued all at the same time, that's how Joe looked. "You Democrats are fun." 

"Tell me about it."

***

As Donna followed CJ out of the bedroom, they were once again greeted by a cat call from Ed. It seemed that no matter how educated the guys were or how important their job was, they could turn into silly frat boys at the drop of the hat. Or at the drop of two women emerging from a bedroom together.

Donna was studying the back of Josh's head as he laughed at something Charlie said. He seemed to be enjoying himself. But CJ was wrong, he was acting weird. It wasn't normal for the Deputy Deputy Chief of Staff's home state to come up in the course of a random interview, was it? But maybe it was Donna that was acting weird. Josh was getting to her. Or more accurately his heat was getting to her. She tugged at the collar of her T-shirt at just the memory of him sitting so closely behind her.

Donna was almost back to her seat, when CJ turned on her. With a bob of her head, CJ pointed to the kitchen and mouthed the word 'now.' Donna's eyes followed CJ's gesture and saw that Joe was alone in the kitchen. He was frantically gulping down a glass of water. Donna knew what CJ wanted her to do. 

With a shake of her head at the ridiculousness of it, Donna turned and instead of sitting down in front of Josh, headed for the kitchen.

Donna's movement didn't escape Josh's notice. His eyes stayed with her as she entered the kitchen and Joe turned to face her. The monster inside him was currently as green as his shirt.

He did notice that Joe didn't seem to be looking at Donna as she approached. He was, instead, studying the floor intently.


	5. Romance of Poker, The

"Thirsty?" Donna joked nervously. She hadn't gone fishing for information like this in a long… long time. But she was humoring CJ, and if CJ had an opportunity for an all night sexathon, then she wanted to be supportive of that. At least one of them should have a sexathon and if it couldn't be her, she was happy that it was CJ. Sort of. 

Joe whipped around and his eyes went wide when he saw Donna standing behind him. Exactly the last person he wanted to be alone with. All he could think was that he needed to do the opposite of hitting on her. Whatever the hell that was. "Losing money is dehydrating." He joked, but when he saw her smile he berated himself. Making her smile was NOT the opposite of hitting on her.

"So… CJ… uh… she has a nice place doesn't she?"

Joe pinned his gaze on the floor, because that seemed safe. You don't hit on someone by staring at the floor when you talked to them. "It's very nice."

"I was just in the bedroom. She has a nice guest bedroom. Her bedroom is even nicer. Her boudoir, she calls it. I'm sure a tour could be arranged back there… you know… if you want." Donna watched him for any sign that he was intrigued at the idea of CJ's bedroom. She saw him cringe. Uh oh… cringing wasn't good. 

"What about Josh?" Joe coughed out.

Donna crinkled her nose in confusion. "Josh has had a tour. Who cares about Josh? I sure don't." She said defensively. She wasn't really sure why she said that last sentence. Except that she was on a mission to throw everyone off the scent of how Josh was affecting her tonight. She smiled widely at Joe, so he wouldn’t guess what she was thinking. "So how about the boudoir?"

Donna was dismissing Josh and wanting to take him to a boudoir; there was no way to construe that as a good thing under the circumstances. She was totally hitting on him! Probably laying a trap to lure him back to her own boudoir. Forcing his voice into a tone that was meant to indicate a complete lack of interest he replied, "No… that's not necessary, I'm good."

"Oh well…" Donna took a deep breath and regrouped; she was determined to try again. In a forced nonchalant tone, she thought back to her conversation with CJ. "You know… um… with long hours, lots of people meet interesting people through work, for dates or friendship or-"

Joe looked out and sure enough he saw the Deputy Chief of Staff glaring at them. Right as his assistant/whatever was about to ask him out! Spooked, he didn't even let her finish her sentence. "Oh… it looks like they're ready to start back up." And he made haste out of the room, leaving Donna standing there, alone, mouth gaping, mid-speech.

***

Josh narrowed his eyes even further. It looked like Joe had just walked out on Donna right while she was in the middle of talking to him. This assessment was confirmed when he saw Donna turn and he got a look at the bewildered, and maybe sad, look on her face. 

What in the hell was wrong with this guy? He'd hurt Donna's feelings! First, he wouldn't even look at her while she spoke to him and then he walked out while she was talking. No one was allowed to hurt Donna's feelings! This Republican jackass had better watch his step. 

***

As the evening continued Josh and Donna lost a few hands and won a couple more, even with the losses they were still way ahead. Donna continued to find it hard to concentrate with the way Josh was pressed up behind her. It felt like he scooted closer with every passing minute. She could swear to hearing, or maybe feeling, his heartbeat he was so close. It was wildly erratic. Or maybe that was her heartbeat. 

Joe refused to even look at Donna, let alone address her, which was a bit awkward because she was seated directly across from him. CJ continued make eyes at him, as did Carol, so he turned his attention towards them, in order to make his not hitting on Donna as obvious to the man sitting behind her, as possible. Of course he didn't know if it was working, because in order to look at Josh and assess him he would have had to look past Donna and he didn't want that to be misinterpreted. Quite frankly, the high wire act of hanging out with Democrats was exhausting. However, he was not disappointed to give his attention to CJ. She was a fascinating—albeit tipsy-- woman. 

Donna noticed how attentive Joe was being to CJ and was thrilled. For a bit there, right after the kitchen incident, Donna had been certain that CJ had no chance for a sexathon tonight. Joe had been downright skittish at the mention of CJ's boudoir. However, things were looking a bit brighter. 

As for Donna, currently, Josh had his arm resting across her thigh which made her so distracted that she actually folded a pair of pocket Jacks. The Josh proximity was really getting to her.

"Zoey is going to France for the summer." Charlie announced out of the blue once they'd been playing for awhile.

"All summer?" CJ questioned in surprise.

"With her lover?" Josh asked with a bad French accent.

"What have I said about that?" Charlie turned his glare on Josh. "You, of all people, don't want to be doing that right now."

Josh looked a little scared. Charlie knew things, at least he suspected things; things that were ridiculously not true. But still he didn't need Charlie telling the party about the things he knew… or rather suspected. So out of respect for Charlie and what Charlie knew/suspected, Josh amended, "What I meant to say, is she going with that pouncy French punk?"

"That's better. And yes she is." Charlie looked a little green, but it didn't stop him from taking another long draught on his beer. Actually, nothing was stopping any of them from drinking. If the object of the evening was blowing off steam and blowing off steam meant getting drunk, so far the evening was very successful.

CJ reached over and patted his hand, while Donna turned sympathetically towards him, "Was she not impressed that you weren't wearing your coat for her at the inauguration? I thought that was a very romantic gesture."

"That was a romantic gesture?" Josh demanded in a voice that was a wee bit on the high side. As far as Josh was concerned that was nowhere near the most romantic gesture made that evening. The most romantic gesture included snowballs… and yelling.

"You think big slick is romantic, but Charlie braving the cold in the name of love is not?" Donna asked him.

"Big slick has poetry."

"Yeah, porn poetry." She turned to face him, "Why would you think I would be reciting porn poetry to you in the middle of a poker game?"

"Romance-"

"Romance of Poker." She finished with him. Got it. She met his eyes and something in them made her breathing hitch. Her breathing shouldn't be hitching and he should definitely not be looking at her like that. So she did the other thing that came to mind, she shot out of her seat.

"I'm getting more wine." Donna stated trying not to sound breathless. "Does… uh.. anyone need anything? Joe, more dip?" She asked with what she hoped was a relaxed smile.

Joe glanced at her and immediately looked away. The woman was still trying. And now… right in front of Josh. Frightened, Joe once again tried to do the opposite of flirting while not looking at her. "No, no thank you."

"Are you sure? I'm up?"

"No, I… uh… od'ed on the dip." He winced that it sounded harsher than it needed it too. It was hard to obviously not hit on someone.

"Oh." Donna was a bit taken aback at the continual rebuffs, especially of her dip. But she nodded and started for the kitchen.

"I'll take some more dip." Josh piped up, when he saw that Donna appeared a bit stung. No one else probably would have noticed, but Josh wasn't just anyone. "I love it. Can't get enough of it. But not the spinachy one-"

"I know what kind, Josh." She rolled her eyes at him, but the stung look was gone and he watched her make her way to the kitchen. Josh turned and narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him. He'd hurt Donna's feelings! Again. 

Josh watched Joe, now engaged in conversation with a loudly cackling CJ. Josh was confused. He still couldn’t figure out what this guy's game was. Earlier in the evening he'd been friendly towards Donna, too friendly. Now he was downright rude and dismissive. The guy wasn't even looking at Donna. What in the hell was wrong with him? How does a heterosexual male sit across from Donna and not stare at her? It wasn't normal.

Which begged the question, why wasn't he hitting on her? That's what Josh had invited him here to do! Of course the last thing in the world Josh wanted was to see Donna with this guy, but she deserved the courtesy of being hit on, damn it.

Then Carol said something to Joe and he watched him smile and laugh with her. Almost like flirting. So Joe would flirt and laugh with Carol, but not Donna? CAROL? How does a guy find Carol more hit-on-able than Donna? It was outrageous!

But it wasn't until a few seconds later when Carol reached to the middle for some chips and Joe grabbed her arm playfully that Josh was sent over the edge.

Scooting forward on the bench, he forcefully set his beer down and pinned Joe with his gaze. You know, the gaze that was able to intimidate the most formidable of Washington players and demanded, "What is your problem?" 

His expression frozen like a mask, Joe looked up and dropped Carol's arm. "Pardon?" Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and looked at the two men who seemed to be squaring off.

"You're being rude to Donna. No one is allowed to be rude to Donna, but me!" Josh charged before realizing what he'd said. 

"What?" Donna asked with a sharp tone and a dropped jaw as she walked back into the room.

Josh turned to her, rapidly shaking his head back and forth. "That came out wrong. I'm not allowed to be rude to you. I'm never allowed to be rude to you. What I mean is…" He turned his attention back to Joe, "You're flirting with every woman here, every woman but Donna!"

Joe just looked like a rabbit caught in the crosshairs of a bow. "I'm not flirting. I'm just making friendly conversation."

"Fine you're making friendly conversation with every woman here, actually with every one here, but Donna. What's wrong with Donna?"

"Josh!" Donna hissed embarrassedly, but Josh ignored the warning in her voice.

"Nothing… uh… nothings wrong with Donna." Joe stuttered.

"She's a very attractive woman." 

"Josh!" Donna hissed again, but this time she blushed. Joe just looked stunned. Toby clinked the ice against the side of his glass of bourbon and smirked before taking a drink.

"Sure, she's very nice looking." Joe said evenly, having no idea how to handle the current situation. He thought he'd been doing everything right to get on Josh's good side. He'd left Donna alone, despite her constant advances.

"Nice looking?! Are you kidding me, she's beautiful. A beautiful woman." Josh challenged and Donna blushed even harder.

But despite the shade of crimson she'd turned, she apologized to Joe, "He has a very sensitive system, a couple of beers and…" But she trailed off when she realized it was falling on deaf ears.

Joe just gave Josh a scared shrug and said, "Okay."

"She's also funny and smart and apparently can play cards. That's not an easy combination to find. A guy should snap that up when he finds it!"

"I'm sure you're right." Joe wondered how anything got accomplished in the Bartlet White House since everyone who worked there was apparently nuts.

"Then why aren't you hitting on her?"

"You want me to hit on her?"

"That's why I invited you!" Josh replied hotly.

"Josh!" Donna's eyes were wide with shock. 

"The better question is, why is she hitting on me?!"

"Who?" Josh asked like the thought was crazy.

"Donna! She's been hitting on me all night. She came on to me in the kitchen."

"Donna?" Josh turned to her in question.

Now she was shaking her head quickly and rounding the table. "I did not hit on you in the kitchen."

"You invited me to your boudoir!"

At that Charlie choked on his drink and Will almost spilled his, but they all continued watching the exchange like a three-way tennis match.

"I did not! I invited you to CJ's boudoir. And I wasn't hitting on you; I was assessing your amenability for a sexathon!" Donna was desperate to defend herself.

"See! I knew it. She wants to have… sex with me. I think." Joe pointed at Donna, but looked at Josh. 

Shocked, Josh followed by turning his attention to Donna. "Donna?"

"A sexathon for CJ! It's CJ that wants that not me!" Donna cried without thinking.

"Donna!" Screeching, CJ jumped to her feet and almost knocked her wine glass over with the quick movement. "She's clearly insane. I don't even know what a sexathon is!"

Now Josh was back on his feet, "So you thought Donna was hitting on you and you've been blowing her off!?" Josh roared with fresh anger.

"Why do you want me to hit on your girlfriend?" Joe asked in confusion and the entire room gasped. Charlie whistled and Toby shook his head, but every pair of eyes was trained on Josh.

"What? We're not dating… she's my assistant!" Josh hastily explained.

"But Will told me…" Now the entire table looked over to Will who was sinking down in his chair and looked like he wanted to slide right under the table. He would have given a kingdom to have been in Cheyenne at that moment. "He told me that to stay on your good side, I should stay away from Donna. That everyone knows to stay away from Donna. That the last guy ended up transferred to… Siberia. I assumed that meant you were together…"

"Can open. Elephants spilling everywhere." Charlie said matter-of factly.

"I did not have anybody transferred." Hurriedly, Josh turned to Donna. "I didn't… I had nothing to do with his transfer. I swear." 

Donna swallowed hard. She looked from Josh's pleading eyes to the eyes of those sitting around the table. The looks varied from amused to sympathetic to shocked. "I'm sorry everyone, would you excuse us." Everyone nodded as Donna grabbed Josh's wrist and tugged him in the direction of CJ's guest room.


	6. Romance of Poker, The

The room was silent for several long moments. Finally, Joe slumped back in his chair and asked, "What's his problem?"

Toby looked up from the cards he'd been shuffling. "He's in love."

Everyone stared at Toby, shocked that someone had just come out and said it. But a moment later there was a chorus of agreement.

"Head over heels," Carol concurred.

"They've both been a ticking time bomb since I got here," Charlie weighed in. "I can't believe it took so long."

"Makes Josh a little crazy, but he's not a bad guy," CJ defended.

"Complicated situation." Ed nodded.

"I didn't mean to out him." Will looked embarrassed.

Toby just shook his head and slid the shuffled deck to Carol. "Let's play cards."

Everyone was silent for a moment until Joe turned to CJ. "What's a sexathon?"

"I can show you later."

He shrugged. "Okay."

***

Josh stood, his back against the guest room door, watching Donna pace back and forth in front of the bed. Finally, she stopped and looked at him. His hair was sticking up in several odd directions and his face was a little flushed.

"I'm sorry-"

She held up her hand to stop him. "No. I'm going to talk now."

But she didn't; instead, she took out her cell phone and started dialing.

"Who are you calling?"

"Stanley." Her tone brooked no opposition.

"Donna…"

"No, Josh, you wouldn’t call him last night and look what just happened out there. I'm calling him and you're talking to him."

"I don't need to talk to Stanley."

"Josh, you're obviously having an episode-"

He walked towards her and gently took the phone from her semi-shaking hand and flipped it closed. "I promise you, I'm not." And he wasn’t, but his heart was in his throat and he could feel the blood rushing through his veins and he was feeling a little dizzy. But it was the good kind of dizzy, not the bad.

"You're not having an episode?" She eyed him critically.

"No." 

"Then explain yourself. In detail." Her hands were propped defiantly on her hips as she made her demand.

Chagrined, he nodded. "Well, I… you see… there's…" 

Realizing they were going to get nowhere unless she forced him to the point, she pinned him with her gaze. "Why do you want him to hit on me?"

"I don't want him to hit on you."

"But you just said, out there, that that's why you invited him. And you launched a tirade at him because he didn't hit on me; seems an awful lot like you wanted him to hit on me."

Josh felt himself being backed into a corner. It was hard to breathe in the corner. He tried, "Didn't you want him to hit on you? Wasn't I doing you a favor?"

"Josh!" There was fire in her tone.

"Well, you are very hit-on-able, you deserve to be hit on. Every man should want to be with you."

The tension eased out of her a smidge and she was unable stop herself from blushing. "So you were angry…"

"I was angry because… uh… he slighted you."

"He slighted me, by not hitting on me?"

"Yes."

She allowed a small half-smile. "Because I'm so hit-on-able?"

"Now you understand."

"I understand that you think you were defending my hit-on-able…ness out there just now, what is not clear is why you invited him in order to hit on me in the first place."

"You said he was handsome."

"I say a lot of things. You rarely listen and never act on them."

Josh took a deep breath and paced from one side of the room to the other before he spoke. "You said he was handsome, and in the heat of the moment last night, when I invited him, I thought that if I set you up with him then you would stop looking at me with the eyes and the worried frown and asking me to call Stanley."

"The eyes?"

"Yes, the eyes. The eyes that say 'I pity you.'" His own were trained on the floor.

She took a step towards him and her voice was passionate when she spoke. "I don't pity you. I've never, not for one single moment, pitied you." 

"Sometimes it feels like pity."

"It's not." Her voice was emphatic.

He swallowed hard and finally looked at her. "Promise?"

"Yes." 

"Well, you worry. Your eyes are full of worry."

"That's because I was worried. My eyes… and the rest of me… were worried about you. And you're just going to have to get used to it."

"But I hate to see you worry. You should be happy, out with someone you find handsome, not worried about some old man."

"You're not an old man." Her lips quirked upwards before she amended, "You're a semi-old man." She moved even closer to him and put her hand on his arm. "If you remember correctly, he's not the only one I said was handsome."

That brought a half-smile to Josh's lips. "No, you said I was handsome."

"And powerful."

"Yeah, but you were joking."

"I was joking that you're powerful?"

"No, I am powerful."

"And you are handsome." Her voice was soft and without accusation when she added, "You just made a little bit of a scene out there."

"I know."

"You need to apologize to Joe." He squirmed before he nodded in agreement. That wasn't going to be fun. "You also need to do something else."

"Okay…" He sounded scared and hopeful at the same time.

"Tell me why you made the scene."

He couldn’t do that. Because to do that he'd have to admit to himself why he'd made the scene. "I told you he was slighting you-"

"Josh," Donna interrupted and shook her head. "You say you made the scene because he wasn't hitting on me. You say you invited him here to hit on me. You haven't explained why you stopped wanting him to hit on me?"

"Well… um… it came to my attention that he wasn't good enough."

"Wasn't good enough?" He nodded, watching her to see if she would buy it. She didn't. "You expect me to believe that all of that…that display… out there was because he wasn't good enough."

"Yes?" It came out as a question.

"Joooosh…" She groaned with exasperation as she started advancing towards him. "The one-up-man-ship? The 'I went to Yale and Harvard?' You sitting behind me with your jeans and your thighs all pressed up against me?"

"What about it?" Josh felt a little like climbing the walls, which he was going to have to do if he wanted to get out of there. Because he'd started taking small steps backwards as she advanced and now his back was up against the wall of CJ's guestroom. "I was making conversation."

"You were marking your territory!"

"What territory?" The words were audible, but barely. She was only inches from him.

She pushed her hand flat against his chest and leaned even closer. "This territory. Me!"

They were standing only inches a part, Josh flat against the wall, their breath co-mingling.

"I don't think of you as my territory." But even as he said the words, he knew that it wasn't true. 

"You really do." She felt her stomach churn as she made the accusation. They were quickly going into uncharted territories.

"Okay, I do." It was a rather large admission and they stood there, eyes locked, for several minutes. Donna felt the temperature begin to rise and she thought he might just lean in and kiss her. His eyes dropped to her lips and then flicked back up to meet her gaze. It surprised her how very much she wanted him to kiss her. 

But he didn't. "Why were you hitting on him?"

With a sigh she stopped leaning forward and settled back onto her heels. "I really wasn't. I really was trying to help CJ find out if he was interested in a wild, one-night sexathon with her."

"Sexathon?"

"Yeah."

"That's a thing?" 

"Apparently."

"Is it only for CJ or can other people try it too?" He asked with a smirk, finally finding a comfort zone in sexual innuendo.

At that, Donna went cold. She leaned back and whapped his arm. She also tried to back away from him, but Josh caught her around the waist, keeping her within arms’ reach.

"What?" He asked her, very afraid of the answer, but unwilling to let go.

"You can't do that. You can't do…" She pointed towards the living room. "…what just happened out there and then make some lewd joke so we can pretend it was all a joke and it never happened. You can't do that."

Josh felt his heart in his throat. Yes, he'd had a few beers. Yes, his mind had earlier been clouded by jealousy. But currently, he didn't want to make a lewd joke and then pretend it hadn't happened either. He tugged on her waist in order to get her attention. Her eyes had been trained somewhere around his neck, but now they met his.

Finally, her voice barely above a whisper, she continued, "And just because you said some very, very flattering things about me out there, does not make it all okay. I'm not going to be dazzled by the fact that you said I was attractive and beautiful and smart and funny and a good card player."

"You catalogued everything I said?" There was a hint of a chuckle in his voice, a chuckle that belied the fact that he had never been so nervous in his entire life. What was happening? Had the last few months all been leading up to this?

Embarrassed, she let her eyes fall again and tried to tug away, but he wouldn't let her.

"I meant them." His voice was breathless, but full of honesty.

At that she felt her heart flip over in her chest as a wave of emotion hit. She wanted to believe that was true. That he really thought all those things about her. Because if he really thought all those things about her, then maybe it was okay that she thought all those things about him. Except the part about being a good card player; he kinda sucked at cards. Good thing she'd insisted on being the brains. Exhaling a deep breath, she asked, "You said a man should snap that up when he finds it."

"I did," he agreed in a husky whisper. 

"Why haven't I been snapped up yet?"

He took a deep breath and worried that he wouldn't be able to say the words over the noise of his pounding heart. In his head it was deafening. His eyes bore into hers. They were like the ocean. They calmed him, and nurtured him and excited him, all at the same time. And he realized they always had. "Donna, you're my… and the jealousy… my heart… and then… it's been worse the last few months… I want… I just don't…"

Josh was saying nothing, but fortunately his eyes were saying everything.

They were telling Donna everything that was in his heart. And that was reflected back to him in her eyes. As he stuttered, trying to explain his heart to her, a magnetic force pulled her to him. Not even realizing what she was doing, slowly she pushed forward in his arms until her lips met his and she silenced him. With a sweet, soft, heart-pounding, flutter-inducing, soul-stirring kiss. His arms instantly wrapped her tightly against him.

When Josh felt her body relax and melt into him and her arms lock around his neck, he took control of the kiss. His lips parted hers and their tongues entwined gently. Josh actually wondered if it was really happening, or if it was just another of his dreams. He'd had dreams like this before, especially recently. But then he heard her moan softly and it brought into focus how real she felt in his arms. The way he could run his hand up her back, how her lips melted under his and how amazing her fingers felt in his hair. Not to mention the way her breasts pressed enticingly against his chest. 

Seconds… or minutes… or maybe hours later, they finally broke apart. Panting, they stood as they were, now with their foreheads pressed together.

"That was…"

"Yeah," Donna agreed, her body still molded to him. He felt so solid and safe against her. 

"We have a problem."

She sighed. She knew this was coming, but she wanted so bask in the glow of the kiss for just another minute before they got back to reality. But she knew they had no choice, reality had to be addressed. "We have lots of problems. You’re my boss. I'm your assistant. We work in the White House. The Press. CJ. Leo. The President…" 

"Yes." He returned her sigh. "All that, but first and foremost our problem is how we get out of here without rousing suspicions among seven of our White House coworkers."

"Suspicions?"

"Yeah, suspicions that we're, you know…"

She lifted her forehead from his so she could search his face. "Are we, you know?"

He wrapped his arms even tighter around her. "I think we are. Aren't we?"

"I think so." She smiled back at him, and he took the opportunity to savor what was happening. He and Donna had just kissed and acknowledged… well, something, they'd work out what later. But whatever it was, he knew it was going to be amazing.

His dimples came out in full force. "We need to find a way out of here right now."

"CJ's townhouse has a back door. We can just leave her a note saying you gave me a headache…"

"We can do that?"

"We could but then we'd be leaving our winnings. I'm not leaving our winnings," Donna stated emphatically. "No, we need to go out there. Besides, you need to apologize to Joe."

"It's my money, and I couldn't care less about it at this moment."

"Josh…"

He relented. "Fine, I'll go apologize and then we'll tell them I gave you a headache and we're going home."

"We should probably act like we're going to separate homes," Donna amended.

"Do you really think anyone is going to buy that?"

Despite herself, she smiled. "No… no, I do not. But we should still pretend. So once we get out of here… then what?"

"We go back to my place and pick up where we left off." Josh tried to make it sound like a statement, not a question, but his eye searched hers for an answer.

"With the problem solving?" Her voice was low and she wagged her eyebrows at him.

"With the problem solving. And the kissing. Maybe we could try that sexathon thing… whatever needs doing… we'll do." 

"'Kay." She smiled shyly at him; her hand was on the doorknob, ready to turn it. But he couldn't help himself; he stopped her by leaning in and pressing his lips to hers for one more kiss. An act which ended up distracting them from the problem of facing their co-workers-- and all the problems that were waiting for them with this newfound thing-- for a good long while.

For all the problems this was going to create for Josh, it also meant that his biggest problem was solved.


End file.
